An appeal is already in the pipeline following the Queenstown Lakes District Licensing Committee’s approval of an off-licence for a Super Liquor store in Lake Hāwea yesterday.
Local resident and objector Lisa Riley said the outcome was "deeply disappointing, but not unexpected".
Approval for the Longview Dr store was issued, despite a record 542 public objections.
It is believed to be the highest number of objections received for a licensing application in the district.
Formal opposition came from Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora as well as extensive evidence and concern raised by local residents about the placement of the large outlet in a new, high-density residential subdivision near a playground, school bus route and planned childcare and community facilities.
While the licensing committee acknowledged the scale of community opposition, its decision document said much of the evidence was "repetitive".
"We were particularly interested in the Ministry of Health opposition and expected more specific and expert evidence and reasoning to support the proposition that this particular application would present a real risk of generalised harm occurring.
"No evidence was provided to show an increase in alcohol-related harm or a deterioration of 15 [amenities] including litter, loitering or anti-social behaviour near other off-licence premises in the area."
Ms Riley said the decision gave limited weight to the evidence offered and concluded that alcohol-related harm had not been proven to a sufficient degree at that site.
"From the outset of the hearing and from the nature of the questioning, it was clear that the threshold being applied was so high that community and public health concerns were never realistically going to succeed.
"There was a strong sense that unless harm could be proven with near certainty before the store even exists, the decision had effectively already been made."
Ms Riley said the decision highlighted a wider issue with how alcohol licensing law was being applied in fast-growing residential communities.
"The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act is meant to minimise harm, not require communities to wait until harm occurs before action can be taken.
"This decision places an unreasonable burden on residents and health professionals to predict future harm with absolute precision, while dismissing the collective voice of the community," she said.
The community would now lodge an appeal, focusing on concerns the decision discounted the depth, consistency and scale of their opposition on technical grounds.
It would also be based on their belief the committee marginalised public health evidence by requiring near-certainty of harm; failed to adequately consider future-focused risk in a rapidly growing residential area; and approved a liquor licence for a premises that had not yet been built, effectively locking in land-use before the community was fully established.
Ms Riley said the appeal was not about opposing business or development — rather, it was about ensuring that alcohol licensing decisions genuinely reflected community wellbeing, public health expertise and the realities of planning in new residential areas.
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor John Glover said he would understand if there were a lot of disappointed people in the community who had hoped for a different outcome.
There was "a huge number of submissions" which showed the level of interest and concern about the sale of alcohol in the community.
It was representative of change within a growing community.
He anticipated there would be calls for local alcohol policies, such as setting a limit on the number of off-licences within a certain density.
"I can see that there would potentially be some calls for some of those to be established, perhaps in the areas where people have more concern about the number of outlets ... in the small community, semi-rural area."
